Neosepicaea leptophylla
Content
Description
Large liana, up to 20 m, 3 cm Ø.
Capsule 13-20 by 2½ cm, terete or oval in section, the valves woody.
Seeds (incl. the wings) 4-5 by 1½ cm.
Notes
Fruits have only once been collected by BECCARI (Arfak Mts).
All inflorescences hitherto observed are axillary, a single one is from old wood.
The flower colour seems to vary, and to change. VINK (BW 11404) noted buds: calyx green, tube pale green, lobes purple; submature flower base of tube yellow, further orange-red, inside yellow, orange-red veined. PULLEN (7729) noted on mature flowers: pale purple, lobes recurved, inside white with purple streaks. Others say merely flowers pale violet; PLEYTE (887) noted yellow. As in N.jucunda the lobes obviously are reflexed in mature flowers.
I have reduced here N. superba which was distinguished by the papillose-puberulous corolla, dark glands on the outside of the lobes, and long hairs within extending in a narrow line into the tube. Three collections have this well expressed (BRASS 23829, PAYMANS 53 and PULLEN 7729). However, there are other specimens defeating these characters: SATAKE 834 and PLEYTE 887 have no hairs in the tube and hardly any glands on the lobes; BECCARI s.n. has a puberulous corolla, but no long hairs; BERGMANN 226 has an occasional hair in the tube and an occasional gland on the lobes, but a glabrous corolla; BERGMANN 261 has the long hairs inside, but a glabrous corolla without glands and thus comes nearest to BLUME'S type.
The Papuan species is close to N. jucunda from Queensland. This has a much smaller, glabrous corolla except occasionally the puberulous tip of the lobes, the latter constantly much smaller; also the thyrses are generally terminal whereas they always seem lateral in N. leptophylla; its fruit is smaller and the valves much thinner.
All inflorescences hitherto observed are axillary, a single one is from old wood.
The flower colour seems to vary, and to change. VINK (BW 11404) noted buds: calyx green, tube pale green, lobes purple; submature flower base of tube yellow, further orange-red, inside yellow, orange-red veined. PULLEN (7729) noted on mature flowers: pale purple, lobes recurved, inside white with purple streaks. Others say merely flowers pale violet; PLEYTE (887) noted yellow. As in N.jucunda the lobes obviously are reflexed in mature flowers.
I have reduced here N. superba which was distinguished by the papillose-puberulous corolla, dark glands on the outside of the lobes, and long hairs within extending in a narrow line into the tube. Three collections have this well expressed (BRASS 23829, PAYMANS 53 and PULLEN 7729). However, there are other specimens defeating these characters: SATAKE 834 and PLEYTE 887 have no hairs in the tube and hardly any glands on the lobes; BECCARI s.n. has a puberulous corolla, but no long hairs; BERGMANN 226 has an occasional hair in the tube and an occasional gland on the lobes, but a glabrous corolla; BERGMANN 261 has the long hairs inside, but a glabrous corolla without glands and thus comes nearest to BLUME'S type.
The Papuan species is close to N. jucunda from Queensland. This has a much smaller, glabrous corolla except occasionally the puberulous tip of the lobes, the latter constantly much smaller; also the thyrses are generally terminal whereas they always seem lateral in N. leptophylla; its fruit is smaller and the valves much thinner.
Citation
STEEN. 1927: p. 301. – In: Nova Guinea: t. 33
BOERL. 1928 – In: Bull. Jard. Bot. Btzg: 200
Bl. 1864 – In: Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugd.-Bat.: 197
BOERL. 1927: Thesis: 843
STEEN. 1960 – In: Nova Guinea n.s.: 15
BOERL. 1929 – In: Proc. R. Soc. Queensl.: 46, 56
Miq. 1858 – In: Fl. Ind. Bat.: 758
K.SCH. 1900 – In: K.SCH. & LAUT., Fl. Schutzgeb.: 540
Diels 1922 – In: Bot. Jahrb.: 449